Road Strip
by 4evercaskett
Summary: Rick and Kate have a little fun enroute to a family reunion.


**Road Strip!**

**Co-authored by 4evercaskett and kimmiesjoy.**

**A/N from 4evercaskett:** We wrote this little story for Charlie O'Kelley. Today is her birthday! Don't worry, Sunshine :) There's no mention of spiders in this... Well, except for just then but that's the only time you'll see the word spider... Dammit! There it was again *evil laugh*

Rick winds down the window, trying to let what little breeze there was outside, penetrate the sweltering heat of the car as they slowly weave through the heavy traffic leading them out of New York City.

"Remind me again why we borrowed this car." He moans as he undoes the top two buttons of his shirt.

Kate downshifts as they approach another red light and they both wince as the transmission makes an awful racket. "I can't drive my squad car to a family reunion and besides...You begged to come with me so quit whining."

"I could have called the service, had a really nice car and a driver at our beckon call all weekend."

"I don't want to pull up to my grandmother's farmhouse in a limo, Castle."

"If my Ferrari hadn't been in the shop for maintenance, we could have driven that."

She angles her head, flooring the angry sounding car "Do you want me to pull over and let you out?" Her voice was threatening but the fact she put her foot down as she said it made him smirk. What was she going to do?

Shove him out of a moving...

He catches her eye, dark and dangerous and he swallows.

"I'm more than happy to go by myself Castle." She says huffing out a breath as she leans against the window "if it's going to kill you to go without air conditioning for a few hours."

"No." He groans. Fanning himself with the collar of his shirt, pulling it back from his chest as he pants against the heat.

"No!" She swivels in her seat to stare at him.

"I mean, I want to go with you but it's just... I'm so hot!." He undoes another button and continues to fan the loosened collar hoping to feel a breeze.

Kate laughs, she couldn't help it, but she bit down on her lip turning her face to the window as she tried to hide her expression from him. "You and your ego, Castle!"

"I know you want me Beckett no need to be shy about it." He stretches lazily in the seat lifting his arms up and entwining his hands behind his head, flexing and then relaxing his biceps repeatedly, showing her his muscles... and the sweat stains.

"Yes because you are just the finest specimen of the male gender right now Castle...jeeze."

Castle looks down following her gaze to the evident stains on his blue shirt. He snickered as he sniffed his underarms, watching her roll her eyes before he replies, "At least I still smell good."

Kate couldn't deny that he did indeed still smell great but instead of admitting it to him, she took her eyes off the road just long enough to glare at him. "Are you trying to say that I stink, Castle?"

"Don't know Beckett, maybe if you let me get close enough to..." He started leaning across the seat.

"What are you doing?" She asked, her eyes opening wide as she leant into the window trying to escape the invasion of his body.

"I'm going to sniff you." He stated continuing to lean in close.

Kate could feel an overwhelming sense of something dangerous, if he got that close whilst she was driving...she turned back and snapped at him, "I don't think so... Get back on your side of the car!" Kate lifted one hand from the wheel and shoved against his chest with all the force she could muster, tipping into him.

The angle of her body caused her to swerve the wheel, the tires screeching as she fought to keep the car on the road. She twisted it back and forth, both hands regaining control as she quickly and expertly brought the car under control again.

"Eeeeek!" Castle yelps clutching at his chest "Damn Beckett, my heart..."

"Calm down, princess." Kate laughs, reaching between them to pat his hand. "Your heart is perfectly safe with me."

She feels Castle freeze in the seat, her hand sliding away from his awkwardly as he asks "You.. mean that?"

Kate lets her eyes dart sideways, looking at him quickly before turning away "I mean...here... with me driving."

"What about the rest of me Beckett?" he asked tilting his head towards her. "My beautiful face...my god like body..."

"HA!" Kate laughed "Your ego the size of a small planet?" She turned in her seat smiling at him, grateful he broke the tension that seemed to settle over them so very very quickly. "I'll keep you safe Castle don't worry, it's what partners are for remember."

"I thought partners were for fetching coffee, sharing paperwork, looking pretty and doing as they are told."

"Castle, you've only ever done one of those things."

"Aww you think I look pretty?"

"Castle seriously is this entire trip going to be about stroking your ego?"

"Why Beckett?" He asked grinning "Is there something else you'd rather stroke?"

Now that they were off the interstate and onto a more deserted road she wanted to make up for lost time, put the pedal to the metal... but the old Giloppy wasn't wanting to cooperate.

"I would settle for getting this piece of junk to shift into gear properly" There is a horrible grinding noise as she shifts up and the car lurches in protest before it speeds up.

"You need to show her a little love is all." He says, something like compassion washing through his voice as he runs his hand along the dashboard.

"Her?"

"Yeah, her. She's a delicate machine, she needs love, patience, a gentle caress..." He looks at Beckett his eyes wide, full of suggestion and he opens his mouth to extend the tease a little bit. But there is a loud groan and something underneath them clunks.

"Yeah, well it sounds like your new girlfriend just lost her muffler." She quirks her eyebrow at him, unable to fight the small smile.

"Jealous much?"

"Of a freaking car Castle?" She scoffs. Because it's not the car she's jealous of, its the way he's running his hand along the interior and being so, soo... Maybe she was a little jealous of the car after all.

God, it must be the heat.

She's imagining him running his hand like that along her thigh, especially if she was wearing the summer dress she bought for the party. Hand wide and large...huge fingers spread over her knee as it slides upwards, just a little forceful. Skimming the hem until he lifts it and continues to drift up over the meatier part of her thigh, squeezing her skin...

"You need to be a little easier on her is all." He says, making her startle.

"She's not as young as she once was and it takes a little longer to get her warmed up but once you do she'll go and go and go." He turned to her slowly, the slow simmer behind his eyes and burning bright.

She swallows the latent desire away as best she can. Not that it helps, nothing seems to dispel it anymore. She finds her voice a bit harsher than she intends.

"Castle I know how to drive. I just can't get use to the gear spacing and the clutch in this thing is almost non existent."

"Push it in deeper." He says with a sexy almost indistinguishable growl.

"Excuse me?" Oh, the way he said that shouldn't shoot straight between her legs should it? But it does, and it swirls deeply.

"The clutch, Kate. Push it in as...faaaar as it can go," he drags the words out, pauses while she does just as he says and then leans his seat back and stretches his legs. "Now, wiggle the stick just a little so you can get a feel for the grooves and then go through the motions until you can easily slide in and out."

Kate felt her skin flush as Rick continued to adjust himself in his seat as he explained to her how she should be handling this piece of shit car they were in.

"Dammit, Castle! Can you shut up for five minutes and let me..." The grinding of gears as Kate tries to shift from second to third makes her lose her train of thought and she slams her hand on the steering wheel in frustration. "You think you can do so much better?"

"Yes I do."

Kate eased the noisy hunk of junk to the side of the road and killed the engine. "Ok hotshot you're driving."

"You're letting me drive?" His shocked but eager puppy attitude has her laughing as he bounds around the car. He clambers behind the wheel, adjusts the seat and mirrors, fastens his seat belt, talks to the car before he turns the ignition, and works the shifter through the gears a few times.

All in the matter of seconds.

He turns towards her in the seat and grins "Buckle up, Beckett, I'm going to show you how to... "

Kate rolls her eyes "Castle, just stick it in gear and lets get this over with."

Castle flicked his eyes sideways, watching as she undoes the top buttons of her shirt, pulling her hair away from her neck.

"Hey Beckett feel this..." He reaches for her hand and pulls it over onto the gear stick, his large warm fingers wrapping her hand around the knob of the stick. "Ease it down..." he met her eyes, watching her swallow as his foot hit the clutch, but her eyes never left his.

He felt her hands twitch under his own, her knuckles must be turning white with the force of her grip and he winced a little bit "Thats... um...a strong grip you have there Detective."

She laughs, shocked and taken by surprise. Staring at him as the hum of the engine fills the car...then her hand was moving under his. "Slide it in gently." She said as their hands moved as one. "Right Castle?"

He nods and reluctantly pulls his eyes back to the road as the car starts to move. "Slow and steady wins the race, Kate."

"But going fast is so...exciting." She breathes slowly, exhaling the word into the heated atmosphere of the car.

"Being in a hurry can take away from the experience." He said swallowing against the slow drag of her fingers over his.

"Or enhance it."

Suddenly Castle finds he's having trouble concentrating on the road. Kates running her fingers through her hair, leaning into the meager breeze offered by the open window.

Her eyes are closed, head tipped to one side a look of serene bliss across her face.

He stares, leaning in close unable to tear his eyes away from her, not noticing the car is drifting until he hits a huge pothole in the road, the car lurches and pulls to one side, guided by a now flattened tire.

Once they pull the car over they both climb out, Castle keeps his eyes averted from Kates as she moves around the vehicle.

She looks pissed, grumbling under her breath and the look doesn't lessen when they check for a spare tire and find...there isn't one.

Without looking at him Kate pulls out her phone and speed dials someone come pick them up.

Castle snatches tentative glances at her as she puffs loudly, enjoying the breeze before climbing back into the car. He waits for a few seconds and then follows her, wanting to test the waters once he's back inside.

See just how annoyed she really is with him.

"At least we broke down under a huge ass tree and have some shade from the sun." Rick jokes, looking at her sideways.

She turns in the seat, head tilting to one side as she observes him "Yeah," Kate says quietly "It was getting awfully hot in here."

Thinking back to their earlier conversation, he wiggles his eyebrows and he smiles over at her. "It was, wasn't it?"

Kate can't help it, she laughs, watching his fingers tease the head of the gear shift "Don't even think about starting that up again."

"Afraid I may convince you that slow and steady is better?" He moved his hands, dragging his hand over the seat slowly to trail up her thigh.

"Not in the least," She stated, stopping his hand. "I'm just not in the mood anymore."

"I can help with that." His steady slow drawl froze her to the seat as he slid closer.

Pursing his lips, Kate feels herself shudder as he blows on her neck. The sweat dampened flesh breaks out in chill bumps and Kate reaches a hand up to push him away, but instead her fingers end up curling in a tendril of damp hair her nape. "Cut it out, Castle!" She hums.

"Move your hand." He says quietly.

"No." She swallows the word, her eyes opening slowly again to watch him.

Castle advances on her, taking her by surprise and never breaking eye contact as his lips brush against the back of her hand when he whispers, "Move it."

Kate lets her hand fall slowly from into her lap "What are you..."

Placing his index finger against the detectives lips to shush he, he smiles slowly before his finger slowly slides past her plump and immobile lips. Castle lightly traces the line of her jaw, moving in slow sweeps down her neck, before moving along the length of her arm.

Kate has to fight to keep from interlacing their hands when she feels his fingers caressing hers and she bites the inside of her cheek to keep from moaning when his hand brushes against her thigh.

"Take off your shirt."

She knows all the reasons that this is a bad idea but there's also this burning desire inside her that needs to be quenched. It's that desire that propels her hands to the buttons on her shirt and she sighs, watching his face as she reveals herself to him, one button at a time.

Rick grabs her left hand as soon as she releases the last button. His wide hand covers hers and he leads their joined hands to the small gap between the two sides of her blouse and slides beneath the fabric.

Kate arches her back and her shirt opens wider, their hands move higher, and her mouth opens on a sigh when her palm and his knuckles graze her breast.

"Castle..."

The moan left her far more painfully than she expected, lost in just the meager play of his fingers, her voice broke as she calls to him, needing more.

She hears the loud thud as Castle slams his head against the headrest and closes his eyes. "I'm sorry, Kate."

Kate turns and watches his face contract in pain thinking he has hurt or upset her, pushed her too far, and she couldn't let him believe any of it.

He has opens her up. He sets her free...she smiles at the mere thought and turns towards him.

She has to show him.

Kate slid across the bench seat, close enough to the writer that her knee brushes his thigh, watching as he jumps at her touch, clearly not expecting her to make any sort of move towards him. "Keep your eyes closed, Castle."

Her whispered request sends a shiver down his spine and his breath hitches painfully in his hand colliding with his abdomen as she moves up to toy with the collar of his shirt moving closer all the time.

When she starts to move over him, undoing buttons as she goes, he flutters his eyelashes fighting to keep his eyes closed, but her voice soft and gentle fills his ear as she leans in close again and whispers "I think you may be right about slow and steady."

He felt her tugging at the last buttons holding his shirt closed and it took every bit of willpower he had to not watch her undressing him. "Yeah?"

Kate's index finger lightly presses against his lips to halt his words but the touch sends a spark through the writer and he moans as he opens his eyes.

She smiles at him feeling the slow glide of her hand along his neck, lower, through the sparse hairs adorning his broad chest, and then back up to his neck. "Uh-huh," she purrs, "Nice and easy..."

Reaching out and grabbing hold of her arms, pulling her closer his lips crushing over hers. "Fuck that!"

Leaning into the kiss and all but climbs over her until she is stretched out beneath him, her head pressing against the passengers side door and her thigh near the gearshift.

She grunts with each fast press of his body, eyes locked on him as he raises up and peels his shirt off, tossing it into the back seat.

Kate lifts her hips as much as she can reaching for her jeans and trying to wiggle out of them.

Noticing how Kate keeps bumping against the shifter Castle has a moment of panic, visions of them rolling down the road half naked flash before his eyes and he quickly sits up, squashing Kate in the process.

She hisses and a look of discomfort crosses her face. "Son of a …."

Concerned that he had hurt her, Castle winces "Sorry, but I had to engage the parking brake... Did I hurt you?"

"No, not you... but something is poking my back." Kate says as she sticks her hand behind her back to see if she can locate the reason for her discomfort. "Ah-Hah!"

"A knitting needle?"

"Who did you say owns this car?"

"Seriously? You want to talk about the car again Castle?"

Castle shakes his head and growls 'No' as he dives back in for more kisses. A war of lips erupts, their kisses becoming hard and fast, filled with need, nipping and sucking at any flesh that is within range as they wrestle to get naked.

As he's shoving her jeans further down her legs, the cell phone in her back pocket starts ringing and he growls against the crook of Kate's neck. "Let it go to voicemail."

She smiles at him as the phone continues to ring and buzz pleasantly against her skin. She pulls a leg free from her pants and reaches for his belt buckle. She has no intention of answering the phone, she's here with him...no distractions, no interruptions.

As soon as she has the belt free the vibrations stop, the phone going silent and she grins into his next kiss. Her fingers traveling lower to pull down his zipper and slip her hands inside the parted denim.

Her fingers roll and squeeze against him as his mouth sucks on her neck, tender flesh bitten and sucked into his mouth as she arches up into him, her foot at the door for leverage, trying not to kick out the window with the heel of her boot.

The phone starts ringing again and Kate growls, loud reverberations into his ear as she gives in, pushing Castle aside roughly. She watches him struggle as she tries to sit up

He sighs loudly, seeing her roll her eyes as he pulls back, heartbroken.

Kate raises up onto her elbows and kisses an apology down Rick's chest as she fishes for her phone. "Beckett!" she bellows down the line, without looking at the caller ID.

As she listens to the caller, eyes darting frantically to the road behind them and she starts pulling her shirt back on, one handed.

She pushes Rick off of her and reaches for his shirt and tosses it to him as she thanks the person on the other end of the line and ends the call. Fumbling like a crazy woman in the confined space of the car,

"What's going on? Who was it?" Castle asks watching the normally composed Detective hurriedly re-dress herself.

"That was my Aunt." Kate barked "She told me that she had called her daughter, who is still en route to the reunion and told her to pick us up on her way."

"And?" Castle shrugged his shirt on still failing to see what all the rushing was for.

"And she'll be here any minute! Pull your pants back on and, umm..." She pointed to his chest "Button it all the way up, I may have marked you a little."

"May have or did, Detective?" He asked cocking his head to one side as she leans in close again.

She gives him a devilish smile and mumbles against his lips. "Did."

"That makes us even then 'cause I got you good."

Kate pulls down the visor and looks at her reflection in the mirror just as they hear a car pull up behind them. "CASTLE!"

A/N: from kimmiesjoy. SPIDERS! HA O'Kelley...I don't get caskett sex for my birthday ...then neither do you (ne ner ne ner) though I know you don't care because technically I think the universe conspired to give you ALWAYS for your present...LUCKY! XxX


End file.
